Calls birth control a matter of health care, not religion

Published 4:07 pm, Thursday, February 23, 2012

In Rob Ferrucci's letter to the editor of Feb. 9 he states that "President Obama would force Catholics to live in direct conflict with the teachings of their church."

Nobody would have forced Catholics or any other faith to avail themselves of the birth control provision of their health care plan. They have a choice and if their religious beliefs won't allow them to practice birth control, then I would assume they would not.

However, there are millions of women in this country who believe that birth control is a critical component of their overall health care, as do the medical professionals that were tasked to put together a minimal standard for a health care plan. Those millions include Catholic women, with the support of their husbands, who have been practicing birth control for decades. One need only attend church on Sunday throughout this nation to see the majority of families include two and maybe three children, which has been the case for a long time.

Does it make any moral sense to bring a child into this world that the parents either did not want or can ill afford to feed, clothe and properly care for? I would suggest that common sense dictates that it does not.

I would also go so far as to suggest that birth control as part of one's health care package could reduce the number of abortions in this country, something everyone of any faith could welcome. The people who would be most affected by allowing a carve-out of this provision from their health care package would be, as always, those who could least afford it, because they are in the lower paying positions of these institutions.